Re: Motion for library exhibits Part 2

[Robert Pries <robertpries@embarqmail.com>]

Cheryl wrote in her second paragraph
Quote,I suppose that the exhibits could be on loan as a semi permanent
exhibit, such
as many people do at museums, however, the insurance comes into play.
Recently my region (15) lost most of it's historical documents when our
historian died and the people in charge of his estate threw out "old iris
papers".  We are currently attempting to replace, copy and/or recreate some
of
our history from each affiliate - a daunting task to say the least. (Back up
copies of everything are being burned onto discs.)Unquote

As everyone knows I am a big proponent of disaster planning. Presently all our
library stuff is housed in one place. If that building burned down all would
be lost. Even if we had insurance you could not replace what is there. I
certainly think much information should be copied. Creating digital files on
the wiki would be an easy way to archive much of this stuff. But for artifacts
only having multiple copies in multiple locations gives you much security.
With contracts for items on loan at designated satellites you run much less
risk than we have at present.

In her third paragraph Cheryl wrote,
Quote, I would love to see the money spent on a true permanent library that
could be
visited by people interested in iris and iris history instead of what exists
now, but unless someone donates the land, building and funds, I don't see
this
happening either.  Many of our artifacts are irreplaceable, so unless copies
could be made, I would be extremely hesitant to send them anywhere without
additional security in place, which bring us back to the financial part again.
Unquote

I agree a true permanent library would be ideal. Even then there would be
value in satellites and traveling exhibits, But doing what we do now will
never get us there. Ben Hager and Sid Duboise had a vision and put life
estates behind it. But even though it is a considerable amount of money and
the library is possibly the most stable part of AIS it is not enough to create
the building you dream about unless we can attract 2 or 3 times that in
additional donations. Many irisarians do not even know the library exists.
Traveling or using another term satellite exhibits could do much to build
awareness. If we demonstrated a plan and made the library a valuable tool to
more people if could seek all sorts of grants and donations. But presently is
viewed as a cave where little light shines. As the concern over loosing or
damaging artifacts I would suggest that we are not just opening the doors and
letting everything out. There are duplicates and replaceable objects. What
would go into the inventory of an exhibit contract could depend on the
importance of that exhibit and what it might achieve. I reiterate that you are
NOT receiving many of the artifacts out there right now because of our current
practices.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to the AIS Secretary
<aissecretary@irises.org>
The archives for AISDiscuss are at:
http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisdiscuss/